A father who has languished in prison for more than 12 years under an abolished indefinite jail term for stealing a mobile phone has been reunited with his son for the first time.
Thomas White, 40, had been banned from prison visits with his only child Kayden, now 14, since being handed a controversial IPP (imprisonment for public protection) sentence.
The father and son have finally shared an emotional reunion following an intervention by David Blunkett, the architect of the IPP sentence, who now admits he regrets introducing the policy.
Speaking exclusively to The Independent after their first visit, Kayden revealed that he dreams of the pair going fishing together if his father is ever freed.
The schoolboy admitted he was a bag of nerves because he did not remember his father, who was jailed indefinitely when the teen was just a baby.
Kayden said: “I was very nervous meeting my dad as I didn’t remember him from a baby. In the visiting room I sat and waited, and asked my nanny if each man with black hair was my dad, as I’ve only seen pictures of my dad from lots of years ago.
“It didn’t feel like I met somebody new – maybe because my dad has rung me every day since I was little.”
IPP sentences – under which offenders were given a minimum jail term but no maximum – were scrapped in 2012 amid human rights concerns, but the abolition of the policy did not affect those already sentenced, leaving thousands trapped in jail for years beyond their original prison term.
Thomas, who had previous convictions for theft, was handed an IPP sentence with a two-year tariff for robbery just four months before the sentences were outlawed. Then aged 27, he had been binge drinking when he took the phone from two Christian missionaries in Manchester.
But thanks to the indefinite jail term, he is still in prison more than 12 years later – aged 40 – with little hope of release as he battles severe mental health problems.
Thomas, who spends nearly all his time in segregation, has been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, which an independent psychiatric report linked to the hopelessness of his IPP sentence.
His tireless family – who are campaigning for all IPP prisoners to be resentenced – want him to be transferred to a mental health facility where he can be properly supported.
His sister Clara White told The Independent: “They tortured my brother. They psychologically tortured him, and they abused his right to family life, and they got away with it for more than a decade.
“And the person I can thank from the bottom of my heart is Lord Blunkett, which is crazy given he’s the architect of the sentence.”
She said the decade-long ban on visits with Kayden was cruel and that there was absolutely no legal basis to keep them apart – adding that her own children regularly visited Thomas in jail.
However, the prison and children’s services repeatedly blocked visits, claiming that the IPP sentence was meant for dangerous offenders and that Thomas’s poor mental health would distress Kayden.
“They robbed them of a decade of seeing each other,” she said, before the family emailed Lord Blunkett in desperation. With his support, they finally won the right to monthly visits.
Ahead of the emotional first meeting, Kayden – who does not even have a recent photo of his father – kept asking his grandmother, “Nana – is that my dad? Nana, is that him?” as dark-haired men entered the prison visiting room.
The schoolboy jumped out of his seat when Thomas finally arrived, and the father and son shared a heartbreaking hug.
“Thomas has always been a very long hugger. They hugged each other for a couple of minutes,” Clara added. “Thomas said he can’t get [Kayden’s] face out of his head – how big he is. Because he’s 14 now – he will be 15 in December.”
The father, who had last held his child when he was just 10 months old, also commented on how tall Kayden is and their “lanky similarities”.
The pair pledged to start a father-and-son book club, which they will keep up during monthly visits and over the phone.
Kayden added: “I’m now allowed to see my dad every month. Me and my dad spoke about how one day we can go fishing together. My dad said, if he could, he would like to wrap me up and take me back to his cell so we could have more time together.
“I found it upsetting that that all my cousins were allowed to see my dad and I wasn’t allowed to since I was a little baby.”
However, the fight is far from over for Thomas’s family, who fear they are watching a “slow suicide” as they continue to battle for him to be moved to a hospital setting and for all IPP prisoners to be resentenced.
Margaret White, Thomas’s mother, said: “This is a day my family never thought would come. Thomas and Kayden have finally been allowed to see each other after all these years. There was not a dry eye in the room.
“We are over the moon that Thomas and Kayden can start to build a normal father-son relationship, but our fight for justice has to continue.
“My son remains locked up in prison alongside nearly 3,000 other IPP prisoners, who are being psychologically tortured by a sentence that was supposedly abolished 12 years ago. I feel like I’m watching a slow suicide, and I pray that authorities can please help before it’s too late.”
Lord Blunkett, who met Clara and Kayden in March, said: “I will continue to do my best, alongside Lucy Powell MP, to ensure that there is a satisfactory outcome – that we can facilitate and find ways of meeting Kayden’s needs; to support his father into a positive outcome from his present situation in prison; and above all, to ensure that those services funded to help develop a pathway, and an acceptable outcome, work together to achieve a result.”
The latest figures show that of the 2,796 IPP inmates currently incarcerated, 1,180 have never been released, and 708 have served more than 10 years longer than their minimum tariff.
At least 90 IPP prisoners have taken their own lives – including Scott Rider, who died in 2022. The fact of his having spent 17 years in prison after he was initially given a 23-month tariff was blasted as “inhumane and indefensible” by a coroner.
Last week, the president of the Prison Governors Association joined calls from MPs, peers and campaigners for the government to reconsider the proposal to resentence all remaining IPP prisoners. Tom Wheatley said the sentences are a “blot on our legal system”, adding: “It can’t be right for people to spend so many years in prison for what in some cases were minor crimes committed during adolescence.”
Although the government has tabled three amendments to the Victims and Prisoners Bill to help enhance the progression, release, and licence termination of IPP prisoners, it has so far rejected the justice committee’s recommendation of a resentencing exercise.
The chair of the justice committee, senior Tory Sir Bob Neill, said the committee has “repeatedly warned” leaders that the jail term does lasting damage to prisoners’ mental health.
“All IPP prisoners should be resentenced to determinate terms. IPP sentences are a stain on our justice system and an affront to basic decency and fairness. More delay will lead to more deaths,” he added.
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “We have reduced the number of unreleased IPP prisoners by three-quarters since we scrapped the sentence in 2012, but retrospectively changing sentences poses a risk to public safety because offenders whom the Parole Board have deemed unsafe for release, many of whom have committed serious violent or sexual offences, would leave prison without probation supervision and support.
“We continue to help those still in custody to progress towards release – including improving access to rehabilitation programmes and mental health support – and the number of IPP prisoners has fallen 12 per cent in the last year alone.”
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
